Motorsport Update – 7th December

There has been lots of news in the motorsport world and round 16 of the 2020 FIA F1 World Championship was the Sakhir GP which was held on the Bahrain Outer Circuit. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had to pull out of the weekend after testing positive for Covid-19 so George Russell had to fill in at Mercedes whilst Williams reserve driver, Jack Aitken took Russell’s seat at Williams and Pietro Fittipaldi filled in for Romain Grosjean at Haas. 

F1 2020 Sakhir GP top 5 drivers

• 1st: Sergio Perez (Racing Point)
• 2nd: Esteban Ocon (Renault)
• 3rd: Lance Stroll (Racing Point) 
• 4th: Carlos Sainz (McLaren)
• 5th: Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)

Fastest Lap: George Russell (00:55:404)

Highlights

• Racing Point’s Sergio Perez claimed his maiden F1 win after a spectacular comeback drive after nearly being wiped out in the lap 1 collision at turn 4 with Charles Leclerc with Max Verstappen also eliminated whilst trying to avoid the collision.
• Mercedes’s race ended in heartache for George Russell as the team put the wrong set of tyres on his car and he also suffered a late puncture whilst chasing Sergio Perez for the win. Valtteri Bottas struggled late on with his used hards as both Mercedes cars endured their worst result of the season after finishing 8th and 9th. (VB: 8th, GR:9th).
• The virtual safety car was deployed after Williams’s Nicholas Latifi pulled over on the exit of turn 8. 
• The full safety car was deployed late on after marshalls had to clear debris from Jack Aitken’s (Williams) front wing after the Brit lost control at the final corner.

In Other News:

• Mick Schumacher Crowned 2020 F2 Champion,
• Romain Grosjean will miss the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi following his huge fireball crash at the 2020 Bahrain GP at the end of last month.

Tune in every Monday to listen to the motorsport update live only on Gateway 97.8 on Daytime with Aston Avery.